Casino Game Protection Post: State of the art surveillance systems...Where's the problem?

They See it all, right? WRONG!

We have all seen countless TV programs depicting just how impossible it is to cheat in modern gambling casinos in Las Vegas and across the world. Surveillance and security gurus like the Atrium's Ted Whiting give us demonstrations how they use this ultra-high-tech equipment to monitor their casino floors and then film and nab the casino cheats after gathering all that video evidence. Then, of course, come the big-bad agents swarming to the tables to bust the cheats.

Slam-dunk, right?

Not really.

All those surveillance-camera video sequences you see on TV that lead to putting cheats in jail and saving the casino millions of dollars are certainly true when they happen.

And that is the key: WHEN they happen. The reality is that when you take into account the tremendous volume of cheating that goes down in casinos, all that high-tech video surveillance rarely comes into play--in fact, surveillance itself rarely comes into play.

What am I talking about?

I'm talking about the problem. Which is that what Ted Whiting and the other TV casino-surveillance stars fail to mention on the broadcasts.

It is simply this: the more sophisticated that surveillance systems become, the less capable casino floor personnel become. And this is not difficult to understand. Casino floorpeople and pit bosses lose their motivation to learn and understand casino-cheating because they know that the casino's video cameras will record everything, and all they have to do is wait for the surveillance department to call them and report that they have picked up on a casino cheat and now they, the floorpeople, can go and catch him.

But what they don't know, or at least not take into account, is that the cameras cannot initiate anything themselves. They cannot tell the casino employees on the floor that they have just recorded a cheating incident and that someone should call them, the cameras, for details. Video cameras cannot tap a floorperson on the shoulder and say, "Hey, Mac, a guy on blackjack table #4 just capped his bet after getting blackjack," or, "that girl with the blond wig just pastposted a bet on roulette table #2."

It has to work in reverse. The employee on the floor has to see...or at least suspect...a cheat-move going down, and then he has to call the surveillance operators and report his findings so that they can go review the video evidence.

This is how it should work--but it rarely does. In fact, during my twenty-five-year cheating-career, never...and I mean NEVER...did a surveillance operator upstairs catch on to one of my cheating moves. 

And what compounded the problem for the casinos is that their employees on the floor rarely got suspicious of anything I ever did at the tables. And that's because they simply didn't know what to look for because they figured the cameras would do the looking for them.

And imagine how much worse this problem is now. I've been retired from active casino-cheating for 16 years, and surveillance equipment has only improved exponentially. Which of course means that the capacity of casino floorpeople to recognize scams on their own feet has declined, maybe not as exponentially, but certainly significantly.

So what I suggest to Ted Whiting and any other directors of casino surveillance is to get some good training programs into action to teach their casino floor employees a thing or two about spotting a cheat on their own and protecting their gaming tables.

Top 10 Land-Based Casino and Poker Cheat Moves

During the calender year 2015, these ten cheat moves in casinos and poker rooms were the most popular among qualified professional poker cheats and casino cheats. This does not include advantage play methods at blackjack such as card-counting and ace-steering.

1) Poker Collusion
2) Blackjack Hole-Carding
3) Bet-Capping at Blackjack (adding chips to winning or probable-winning bet)
4) Pastposting at Roulette (making original bet after outcome determined)
5) Roulette Chip Fraud (manipulating values of non-redeemable roulette chips)
6) Bet-Capping at Roulette
7) Bet-Capping at Craps
8) Pastposting at Blackjack
9) Bet Sliding at Baccarat (moving bet from losing box to winning box)
10) Pastposting at Craps

Numbers one and two on the list are easy to understand since they are virtually risk-free. Even though casinos and poker rooms consider collusion and hole-carding as cheating, the courts in Nevada and other casino jurisdictions do not. So why wouldn't professional cheats take advantage of this kind of "free shot" at casinos?

Note that all the high-tech scams using electonic and laser equipment do not appear on the list. This is because pro cheats tend to avoid them like the plague. Almost all casino jurisdictions treat cheating that involves equipment as major felonies and judges routinely had out prison sentences to those convicted of it.

Vegas Set for New Year´s Eve Casino Wars!

New Year´s Eve in Vegas

Call it the Great Crusades of Casino and Poker Cheating!

The casino cheats are loading their gadgets; casino surveillance is loading up their cameras; Griffin Investigations and other casino investigatory bodies are beefing up their patrols...everyone´s getting ready for the big New Year´s Eve casino-cheating bang!

And it will come!

New Year's Eve is always the numero-uno prime-time casino and poker-cheat invasion of the world´s casinos, especially in Las Vegas. This is because the vast crowds inside the casinos and the huge action afford the cheats the best possible conditions to work in. There is just too much action in casinos for their security and surveillance staffs to adequately protect their gaming tables and slot machines, and when there is a suspected cheating incident, it is too un-profitable to stop the game and wait while surveillance check the footage from the cameras. Imagine, how much money the casino would lose when stopping a jam-packed roulette or craps game for fifteen minutes!

So how profitable can New Year´s Eve be for a good professional casino.cheat team?

Well, I will tell you this: on New Year´s Eve 1999, which was my last New Year´s Eve working casinos, I entered Caesars Palace with my three casino-cheat partners and did a total of fifteen $10,000 moves, half of them Savannah roulette moves and the other half blackjack pastpost moves. They all got paid without any heat and we cleared $125,000! Not bad for a night´s work, right?

And of course this time of year I get a vast increase in emails, lots of them asking me if Savannah still works in casinos.I do not want to encourage anyone to cheat in casinos, but I cannot lie either, so you can figure out what the answer to that question is.

Overall, I expect Las Vegas alone to lose some $2 to $3 million to cheats tonight, with maybe an arrest or two of those unlucky enough to get caught and busted, But all considering, the odds are never more with the cheats than on New Year´s Eve.

And Happy New Year to you all!

Now Offering Private Beat-the-Heat Blackjack Card-Counting and Advantage-Play Courses by Skype!

If you want to learn the art, take advantage of this terrific opportunity to get one-up on the blackjack tables. A four-day comprehensive course is priced at $500. A two-day course is $200. Both courses cover all the basics and intricacies of the best casino card-counting and advantage-play techniques. The three-day course gets into more details including internal-security measures needed when playing and more intensive training.

To get the full description of these courses, please go to my card-counting website page. If you want to book either course, contact me for scheduling.

Are Blackjack card-counting and hole-carding considered cheating in casinos?

Legal Peeking?

Card-counting at blackjack is absolutely NOT considered cheating in casinos by any casino jurisdiction that I´ve heard of. 

Blackjack hole-carding, however, is in a much grayer area. There is no doubt that those blackjack players seeking to gain an advantage over the casino by willfully peeking at dealers' hole-cards are attempting to cheat by definition, but the actual carrying-out of the process leaves things much less clear. The obvious argument against hole-carding being cheating is that the blackjack hole-carding player is simply taking advantage of the dealers who expose their hole-cards due to sloppiness and lack of following proper dealing procedure. They don't do anything to cause the dealer to expose their hole-card, even if their intent was to find a dealer that indeed does so. 

This argument does hold water.

There have been some arrests of blackjack players for hole-carding, mostly in Nevada, but I am not aware of any convictions or plea-bargains by those guilty of doing so. So in summation, I guess you are pretty safe when hole-carding at blackjack, even though it is getting harder and harder to find good opportunities to do so in light of the dwindling availability of hand-held blackjack games across the casino world.

Now Offering Private Beat-the-Heat Blackjack Card-counting and Advantage-Play Courses by Skype!

If you want to learn the art, take advantage of this terrific opportunity to get one-up on the blackjack tables. A four-day comprehensive course is priced at $500. A two-day course is $200. Both courses cover all the basics and intricacies of the best casino card-counting and advantage-play techniques. The three-day course gets into more details including internal-security measures needed when playing and more intensive training. To get the full description of these courses, please go to my card-counting website page. If you want to book either course, contact me for scheduling.

Game Protection Blog Coming Soon!

Game Protection.

For all you casino executives and floor supervisors who want to get the latest in game protection news from a source other than the World Game Protection website, a new one is coming! It is a new blog and it will be simply be called "The Table Game Protection Blog. It will discuss all matters relating to Game Protection inside land-based casinos, and it will give NEW informative information from Richard Marcus, someone who really knows all aspects of game protection from both sides of the table, meaning through the eyes of the casino on one side and the eyes of a casino-cheat and advantage-player on the other.

This blog will also be of help on matters concerning whom you hire for game-protection services at your casino.

Stay tuned!

Is Daily Fantasy Sports Becoming Illegal in the USA?

Daily fantasy sports betting has become one of the great ways for fans to bet and make money without a long term commitment. Traditional sports betting would require bettors to follow an entire season, but with daily fantasy sports, bettors can bet on multiple events on any day and win immediately after the event ends. The Wall Street Journal has covered this topic and despite the growing interest and popularity of daily fantasy sports betting, it remains an activity that is under much debate in the USA. The business model of daily fantasy sports betting sites have been investigated and that has raised some questions pertaining to the legality of this form of betting. The arguments from FanDuel and DraftKings, both US based companies, is that fantasy sports betting is a game of skill, Since it is not based on luck, it is exempt under the 2006 UIGEA law. It is still a grey area and it is up to each individual US state to allow or ban daily fantasy sports betting.

Betting sites like FanDuel and DraftKings have been advertising to US residents during football games, since the NFL season has just started. This raised a red flag and the legality of these sites is now being questioned. These billion dollar companies may be a household brand name, but they cannot stay under the radar and the explosion of ads and interest has lead to some serious investigating on whether daily fantasy sports  betting is a form of gambling.

Sports Betting Laws per State

The US has recently loosened the laws pertaining to online gambling, but each state has the ability to legalise or ban any online betting. In Nevada, the gaming board deemed sports betting is considered gambling and fantasy sports betting is not covered under the current gambling laws in Nevada. Nevada does offer online gambling at sites that are licensed by the state. At this time, there are no sports betting sites registered or licensed in Nevada, which means that any form of sports betting is in fact illegal.

In Massachusetts, there has been some upset and misunderstandings regarding sports betting since the popular Boston based DraftKings site has been advertising services to US bettors. Based on a recent article in the Boston Globe, the Massachusetts Law prohibits and form of gambling unless it is allowed by the Legislature. Even with the popularity of sports betting, daily fantasy sports sites cannot operate in Massachusetts legally.

Taking the Daily Fantasy Sports Offshore Online

It is quite evident that daily fantasy sports betting is a topic of great debate. Until the dust settles and the laws are clear, a number of US residents are seeking gambling action offshore. At sites that are licensed and regulated in other countries, bettors can enjoy sports betting and other forms of gambling online. The problem of UIGEA is still there and US gamblers have to find alternative ways to deposit funds at these offshore sites. A number of other countries, including Australia, have created laws similar to UIGEA in hoped of deterring residents from engaging in online gambling activities. However, with the offering of prepaid cards and some ewallets, residents of these countries still have the ability to register at offshore sites and enjoy gambling activities.

Understanding UIGEA

In 2006, the US government passed the UIGEA Act of 2006 and this regulation has been the cause of many problems faces by US gamblers. The Act made it impossible for US bettors to use their credit or debit cards to fund off shore casino accounts. Banks and financial establishments are not allowed to process any payment to or from an online casino for any US resident. However, the recent changes in law has allowed individual states the ability to choose whether they will legalise online casinos and gambling for residents. UIGEA is still in place, which is making it difficult for certain players who are accessing online casinos in states that have legalised online gambling.

Hot Trailer to National Geographic Underworld Inc. Las Vegas Hustle Episode!

Chips will be flying!

See this clip and don't miss the episode! It airs Wednesday, October 21 on the National Geographic (NatGeo) Channel. Also, be sure to read the two posts directly below and get some insight into the show and the REAL casino cheats who will be profiled.

Ace Face and Bim to perform Savannah Roulette Move in front of Millions!

Bim and Ace Face

It's true! They will appear on National Geographic's "Underworld Inc." series this Wednesday night, October 21. The name of the show is "Las Vegas Hustle." See trailer here.

You wanna know more about Ace Face and Bim? Here's the real scoop! I did work with them both back in the ´80s and ´90s. In fact, Ace Face is one of the early pioneers of the Ten-O-Five Blackjack Move, which he will also be doing on the Underworld Inc. Las Vegas Hustle TV show. He was simply the best at it, and with his cool, handsome James Bond demeanor, he did a number across the blackjack tables from Las Vegas to London, really terrorizing casinos worldwide..

Bim, whom we actually did call "Bim" back in the day and still do, is a really incredible character. Such is how he got his nickname "Bim." The name is a chopped version of "bimbo," although Bim is not at all a bimbo. He´s just a bim! I guess you gotta spend some time with him to get what I mean.

I will tell you this, however: Bim is always so stoned that he can smoke any Rasti in Jamaica under the table at any time!!! And the more stoned he was, the more he kicked the casino's ass!!! Another thing I can tell you about the Bim: he had absolutely no fear of anything! I used to joke with him," Bim, you're scared shit of these casinos, aren't you?" And he'd chuckle and say, "petrified!" I don't know why he had such balls and no fear, but maybe it was due to his being too stoned all the time to interpret fear???

Ace Face and Bim were not around during the inception of the famous Savannah move but they knew a great thing when they saw it, so they initiated their own Savannah road tour in the late '90s just as I was getting ready to retire. They had it down to a tee and Bim had no trouble playing the drunk-role as he was always already stoned! And to all of you who constantly ask me if the Savannah move can still be done in today's casinos, this should suffice as the answer!

As I was told, Ace Face was out fishing when Bim told him about the Savannah move. With the rod in his hand and a big-one dangling from the hook, Ace Face decided to drop the line in the water, row the friggin´ boat back to sure and get on the next plane to Vegas!

Can't wait to see the show. And neither can you!!!